The UPS Store programme strives to provide books and educational resources to economically disadvantaged children in communities

The UPS Store debuted its second float in the 2018 Tournament of Roses Parade and took home the Extraordinaire Trophy for its float “Books Bring Dreams to Life,” designed to capture the magic and imagination that come alive when diving into a good read.

The Extraordinaire Trophy is awarded to the most extraordinary float for its entertainment value. This award category includes floats 55 feet in length and greater.

The float was designed to highlight the Toys for Tots Literacy Programme, developed by The UPS Store and the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation in 2008. The programme strives to provide books and educational resources to economically disadvantaged children in communities throughout the US, aiming to leverage the impact literacy has on children’s success.

“The UPS Store is honoured to receive this year’s Extraordinaire Trophy, and have the opportunity to shed light on childhood literacy to a national audience for the second year in a row. We believe our mission to provide reading materials to economically disadvantaged children across the country ties in beautifully to the Rose Parade’s ‘Making a Difference’ theme,” said Karen Kelly, Director of Advertising.

The UPS Store float made waves at this year’s parade with custom-built hydraulics powering the movement of the float. The float’s main feature was a spectacular sea monster that appeared to swim down the parade route in a life-like way. Fresh flowers gave The UPS Store’s sea monster its colour, texture and brilliance. Her scales were made up of green and yellow chrysanthemums, magenta and coral carnations and intermixed with grapefruit, oranges, lemons and limes. Iris petals created the sea monster’s eyes and imported hydrangeas provide bright blue accents throughout the water she is swimming in.

The float’s animations blew standard Rose Parade dimensions out of the water – her neck and head animated beyond the standard 55-foot length while her tail animated beyond the standard 18-foot width.

Since its inception the Toys for Tots Literacy Programme, The UPS Store has raised more than US $4 million dollars/£2.95 million and distributed more than 39 million books to help children across the United States.

UPS was a global winner of the World Branding Awards 2014-2015, in the Logistics category.

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